Chinese Company Puts Novel, Street-Straddling Bus Into Testing

One of the most exasperating things about driving in gridlock is being stuck behind a slow-moving transit bus that’s blocking traffic. But if one Chinese company’s testing is successful, that maddening exercise might be a thing of the past. That’s because TEB Technology has built a bus that practically hovers over the road.

Called the Transit Elevated Bus-1 (TEB-1), the mass transit solution rides on rails that run down either side of the road, turning the bus into a two-lane-wide machine with space for up to 300 passengers, replacing as many as 40 conventional buses, and up to four TEB-1s can be linked together.

“But wouldn’t a two-lane-wide bus cause more congestion and block more traffic?” we hear you ask. And the answer is no, thanks to one interesting design feature. The bus is elevated over the rails, leaving space for cars to pass directly underneath it. Obviously, the low clearance under the bus will preclude vehicles much taller than an average crossover from passing by, but it’s still a unique solution to a common problem in large cities. For an idea of how it works, check out the video of a scale model below, from China's CCTV News.

The TEB-1 was put into testing on August 2, using a 300-meter stretch of road in Qinhuangdao, according to TEB Technologies. The company says buzz around the TEB-1 is positive, with witnesses and interested parties taking to a Chinese social media site to express their amazement. With a wide passenger cabin, broad aisles, and plenty of seating, the TEB-1’s accommodations could not be more different from most municipal buses and subway cars.

Current challenges to the TEB-1’s rapid use in cities in China and around the world include incompatible infrastructure. Cities with narrow roads or abundant overpasses wouldn’t mesh well with the bus’ 25-foot width or double-decker height. Additionally, building a rail system on either side of a compatible road would be costly (though no more so than building a commuter-train thoroughfare). And it would certainly take some getting used to driving underneath a moving vehicle, Fast and Furious-style.

Still, proponents of the TEB-1 say it has many of the benefits of a subway or rail system, at a lower price and with easier implementation. One TEB engineer claims bus construction would cost one-fifth that of a comparable subway system, according to the company.

While vertical space would present a challenge to truck and van drivers, such a system would make lots of sense in crowded city centers in Europe and Asia, where tall vehicles are less common. Indeed, it would also do well in large American cities’ one-way roads, where two lanes could be devoted to TEB-1s and small vehicles, freeing up one or more lanes for larger vehicles to overtake.